Tony La Russa pregame interview

By / MLB.com

Tony, I know you have respect for all
the Padres players, but how big of a miss is it
to not have Khalil Greene at shortstop as good
as a player he is?

TONY LA RUSSA: I think it's a big miss
for Khalil, because he's a terrific young player and
would be a second post-season experience. But
Blum has really given him you know the
replacement they need, and they were able to
finish in first place because he came in there.
And Blum is a solid player. So I think
personally for Greene it's a tough, they can't be
100 percent, but for the Padres, they're covered.

How did you end up ordering your
lineup for today and what went into the couple
of decisions you may have had to make there?

TONY LA RUSSA: Well, easy one, Wilson
just slides in the 2 spot for Chris. I think you need
to protect Albert with a right-hander and Scott's got
the most success against Wells. So he hits fourth
and Encarnacion fifth and Jimmy sixth.

Imagine it's safe to assume that
Jimmy checked out okay. But was there a
conversation with him on how he's feeling?

TONY LA RUSSA: Yeah, it was kind of
neat. I actually called him last night and left him a
message. I was walking down the street with my
wife, walked right by the restaurant where he was
having dinner. So I got to ask him in person.
And he feels ready to go.

These couple of games have been,
you know, I think the second or third time
you've had all these guys available. Putting
aside the offense, what's the value defensively
of having everybody in there, of having Jimmy,
of having Ronnie and Eckstein in your middle,
just having your whole defensive line in the
middle there?

TONY LA RUSSA: I'll be careful talking
about the infield, I don't want to disrespect -- Aaron
Miles did really an outstanding job for us. And
considered he had mostly second basemen do
what he did, he deserves a ton of credit. I'd be
careful anything I said. David has more
experience more at shortstop. We did fine with
Aaron. Our outfield, that was a problem. And
Encarnacion filled in and he did a good enough job
and So and whoever played. Set up right now with
Jimmy in the middle, it's outstanding.

Tony, I know that you've said, that
it's a good problem to have. I'm wondering
how you look at trying to get Spiezio involved
in some way, there's maybe an interest in
starting him again more at bats but also need
to keep him as a threat off the bench. How do
you weigh those?

TONY LA RUSSA: I think a lot of those
considerations are the ones you face during the
season. You work really hard to balance getting
the guys off the bench, with enough playing time
and keeping the core guys fresh. When you get
into October, it's all about, you know, what's the
best you can do to win today. I mean every game
has so much importance by itself. So from my
point is when you look at our three outfield
choices, we're picking from some really good
options there, and I mean I really don't feel like I
can go wrong. But I'm not thinking I've gotta get
Scott a start, because he's gotta be better than one
of the other games for that game.

Courtesy of FastScripts by ASAP Sports. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.